The Chickendad Chronicles

[greenSearcher]

Life in Chicken City

I don't know why summer has to start in May here in Texas. I considered temps of 90+ "summer". It looks like we should have thunderstorms tonight, a good thing, it's getting dry again. Technically it isn't drought yet, rainfall has been normal, but the ground is so dry, it is soaking up the water and there's not a lot of run off for the lakes which are still around 60%.

Chicken City residents are doing great on bug control. I haven't seen a whole lot of bugs and no significant grasshoppers yet. Hopefully they won't be a problem this year. Before I had 30+ hens, the grasshoppers were just horrible. They hung on the eaves of the house, the fences and the trees. Ugh! I tried Nolo bait, and it seemed to just attract more. Chickens have been the best solution. I even considered Guinna hens if the chickens couldn't control them.

I finally gave in and gave Annie-Not some eggs, since she is so devoted to sitting on her feet in the coop. She should be left alone, since once the other chickens are up in the morning, they bound energetically down the ramp, grab a quick drink and start checking out all the yummy spots, starting under the bird feeders first. Of course I forgot to mark the eggs I put under Annie-Not, so later I get to get pecked when I take them out and mark them. Blackie will probably contribute a blue egg to the clutch, but, right now I think her eggs are all brown. The girls don't go back to the coop except to lay until the evening.

It is amazing watching Miss Stink with her babies. She takes the babies for walks in the weeds, Stays close to the house normally, but when DH "hayed" the front yard, she took the babies to the back porch to be safe the the lawn tractor. I still have to pull the weeds in front of the front porch, but since she has taught the babies to hide in the weeds I guess I will just have to wait. She lays somewhat in the open and the little ones wander under the weedy leaf canopy pecking and scratching. It amazes me at how high they jump, from the ground to the porch is a good 6 inches. Mama has also taught them what treat is, my brooder babies wouldn't touch "treat" until nearly 3 weeks, but these two eat the minced fruit pieces and bread mama crumbles for them, even giving the watermelon pieces a good pecking. I haven't wanted to get Miss Stink all agitated so I haven't been holding the babies, but it looks like if I am ever going to get them used to me, I will just have to put up with her fussing.

That is about it, the biggest excitement being a snake DH killed near the back porch, only about 5 ft long, I think it was a Rat Snake. I know I have a garter snake living around the recycle bins, which is fine, they live on bugs and mice. We have been out in the country nearly 4 years now, and this is the first year we have seen snakes. As long as they aren't rattlers I am OK with them.

Mrs Chickendad, remember your exercises. Don't need to fall and get another black eye, folks will begin to wonder what's going on, some folks simply don't realize how clumsy we get when we hurt and our muscles are weak. Now that it is summer and I wear shorts and tank tops (at home only) my bruises certainly show. Do take care of yourself.

Julie

 

[MrsChickendad]

Chicknappers!

Broody Trudy waited patiently and her fifth little chick finally woke up. Trudy was quite pleased with herself and promptly taught the babies what was good to eat and drink. She taught them to scratch in the shavings and flop around taking baths.

The two broody girls who had produced the gigantic clutch of eggs in the rock coop were moved to a broody pen near Trudy’s fancy broody house. Mrs. Chickendad candled the eggs and tucked the good ones back under the broody sisters. They settled in and assumed the broody stare while waiting for the babies. A few days after Trudy’s brood hatched, a lone chick made his appearance. He became an only child after it was obvious the other eggs were not viable. So now there was one mama with five babies and one baby with two mamas.

Mrs. Chickendad had to assume that Trudy had not taken math, not even Chicken Math, so she snitched one of the babies and gave it to the sisters so they would not argue over the single baby and spoil him. Everyone seemed happy until the next day or so. Trudy decided to take her babies out to play in the grass. The sisters followed with each of their babies.

Later that evening at lockup, the Chickendads found Trudy and one of the babies roosting in a corner of the garage. Where were the others? They went over to the other pen and checked the sisters, who were sitting all fluffed out with innocent expressions on their faces. “Who? Us?” The sisters had chicknapped four babies, who stuck their little yellow heads up from under the sisters’ wings, looking cute as all get out, and giving away the sisters and their evil plot.

Meanwhile, a Rhodie mama has hatched two babies and has taken up residence in the broody nursery. The broody sisters eyed her babies, but Rhodie is much larger than they are, so they decided against any more chicknapping. Besides, she has a big Wyandotte boyfriend who has begun helping her with the children, even though they are not his. Mrs. Chickendad was quite impressed this evening when the Wyandotte rooster defended his adopted family from the unwanted attentions of a ratty Ameraucana teenager with way too many hormones. We can only hope the Ameraucana learns from the Wyandotte’s example of how to treat your woman chicken.
.

 

[Dowie]

Goodness what naughty girls! So adorable.

 

[MrsChickendad]

Timmy Has Fallen in the Well!

Trudy and the Rock Sisters were getting adventurous, leading their babies farther and farther into the garden. Their bright white feathers made them easy to spot, and the babies ran about peeping madly. They were having a grand time.

Mrs. Chickendad ensconced herself on the deck and proceeded to plant flower pots in the hopes that they wouldn’t soon be eaten by the girls. She was making quite a mess and listening to the Mamas talk to their babies. Suddenly, there was frantic peeping coming from the back flower bed. The Mamas and babies were nowhere to be found, except for the little one putting up a fuss. She hopped down (well, as fast as Mrs. Chickendad can hop) and searched for the noisy baby. Her heart sank when she found him. He had fallen to the bottom of the drain tile at the base of the downspout on the house, and was a long 5’ below ground. The rock that normally covers the tile had been moved and the hole was wide open when the baby (now known as “Timmy”) stumbled into it. How to save him?

As Lassie was not available to rescue Timmy from the well, it was left to the Chickendads to execute the operation. Chickendad’s arm was about a foot short of being able to pick out the baby with the “grabber” in his hand. They tried fashioning a long piece of wire with a loop at the end to fish out Timmy, but Timmy perceived they were trying to poke him with a wire like a roasting marshmallow and voiced his disapproval. The Chickendads soon realized it was not going to work anyway. Had Timmy been a kitten, they could have extended a long piece of cloth for him to climb out on. But Timmy had been an egg only a week earlier, so his climbing skills were limited.

Mrs. Chickendad finally came up with the idea to lower a soup ladle down the hole on a wire. It was oval in shape and she hoped it would slide by Timmy on one side and she could scoop him up and give him an elevator ride to the top. After a quick prayer, she lowered the ladle on the wire, scootched it past the baby, trying not to knock him further down. He stepped right into his homemade elevator and rode right to the top without incident. Timmy scuttled over to his Mama and tucked himself under her. Whew! Safe at last!

An old gospel song tells “His eye is on the sparrow”. I think this applies to chickens, too.

 

[Noncentzter]

Yes it does!

 

[peepacheep]

Way to go Mrs Chickendad!!!!

 

[maurerwerks]

Wow!! I was trying to eat breakfast while I read about Timmy's adventure. It got so exciting I had to put my fork down (a big step toward diet for me). Thanks for another great story Mrs. Chickendad!!

 

[1muttsfan]

Good thing you were there!

 

[gingerpeach22]

You have such a lovely way of words - word painting, I call it. And where is that darned Lassie when you need her?

 

[sewingca]

Darling MrsChickendad, only you could tell a tale like that and include inspiration for the rest of us rock dwellers. Thank you.